Grünerløkka was traditionally a working class district; since the late 20th century the area has increasingly undergone gentrification.

Especially in the core neighborhood of Grünerløkka, property prices tend to be higher than is typical of other Oslo East End boroughs.

Grünerløkka was named after Friedrich Grüner (1628-1674) who served as chief administrator (Oberhauptmann) and the master of the mint (myntmester) at Christiania from 1651 until his death in 1674.

The industrialist built the main street of the neighborhood Grünerløkka, now named Thorvald Meyers gate.

[citation needed] The district's previous logo showed Mangelsgården, a listed building in Storgata 36 that is part of Prinds Christian Augusts Minde.

The 15 seats are distributed among the following political parties for the 2019-2023 term:[7] The neighbourhood has its own sports club, Grüner, which was founded in 1914 with ice hockey and football as the most important activities.

Grüner Fotball plays its home games at Dælenenga idrettspark and currently is part of the third division of the Norwegian football system.